Need serious help. I feel like peds is blowing me off.

[southernmommie]

I have looked at some pictures (gross I know, nut I need help) of baby poop on the internet and can't find what DS7mo. is having.

When he poops it is bright yellow with tinges of green and very pasty. He is breastfed and just started baby food. But he hasn't had baby food in a week and during this week is when his poop started doing this. (Before he wasn't pooping at all.) He has a cold now too which is going on 3-4 days now. The other kids have it too.

Here's our story. I'm trying to figure out what's wrong. 

About 3 months old he basically slowed his growing. We all got sick in the house about that time so he actually lost a little of weight. Then about 4 months old he stopped growing. Which is where he's sitting at now at 7 months. (He just turned 7 months today.) To give you an idea, he was born at 8 lbs. 2 oz. Gained on target the first 2 months staying within the 80 percentile range. He is now sitting at 13 lbs. 2 oz. I noticed that he was fussing while eating and up to an hour after eating. Not constant and not hard but off and on just fussing. So I would try infant cereal with a little baby food for flavor. Within an hour he would scream in pain. Every time. So I would stop for a week or two and try again. I've tried for over 2 months. About 2 weeks ago he finally got to where he didn't scream in pain after trying food. Now from about 5 months to 6 months old he wouldn't poop. At all. He would only poop after I would give him a bottle of pear juice and he would explode out his diaper and be really watery and mucosy. I would do the bottle at about 3ish weeks or more after realizing he hasn't pooped. This can't be normal! So after being out of state for a death in the family about a month, I finally get home and get him to the dr. She acts kinda unconcerned. I asked for diabetes test (I was gest. Diab. with this pg) and an allergy test. Just to rule out anything we might have missed. Glucose was normal. Allergy test came back normal too. All numbers were zero. Which I have a question about. I made mac and cheese with soy milk for the first time before I got the results. We had a late dinner. I nursed little man and no baby food at this time. In the morning he starts getting a rash only in his hair line all over his scalp and at the bottom corners of his eyes like tears dripping but rashy. It was gone by the end of the second day. Was that an allergy reaction to the soy milk?

I feel like there is something there in all this that either I'm missing or the dr is blowing me off. Which I don't understand since he's sitting at a 1% on the weight chart. 

My other 4 kids have consistently sat above the 60-80% on the chart or higher! So this is not my normal. 

Other than that he is crawling, babbling, trying to stand bless his little heart. He interacts with everyone. 

Thank you for reading this. Please help me figure out what is wrong.

[katelove]

It sounds like it could be some type of food intolerance even if it isn't an actual allergy. I guess what I would probably do in that situation is stop all foods/drink except breast milk for a while. I would offer feeds frequently (every hour while awake if possible). I'd probably do this for a month or so, while at the same time keeping an eye on his weight and signs of food intolerance.

Moving around the percentiles is pretty normal for most babies. I believe only about 12% stick to the percentile they were on at birth. If he is  well hydrated, alert, active, settled (mostly) and meeting developmental milestones then I would adopt a watch and wait approach. Especially as he's been sick recently. It'll no doubt take a little while for him to make up the ground he lost there.

My daughter lost weight one month and didn't gain any weight a couple of months when she first started to crawl and cruise. The month were she lost weight I weighted her weekly for a couple of weeks just to make sure she didn't continue to lose and increased the frequency of feeds.

All the best. I hope things start to improve soon.

[sosurreal09]

I would automatically eliminate dairy, soy, and beef from your diet and see how he reacts after 2 weeks. If he is not better eliminate gluten and see how that goes. I would stop all solids for sure. DD had issues and didn't start solids until nearly 11 m/o.

Also get a probiotic for him and give it to him daily.

Hidden dairy is important to eliminate too! Here is a link on hidden dairy names http://www.kellymom.com/store/freehandouts/hidden-dairy01.pdf

[southernmommie]

Thanks for the suggestions. We already nurse every half hour since birth. Tomorrow is grocery shopping day. I will make a list and double check the ingredients on everything. 

[homemademom]

You might want to visit the allergy board here for information on how to do an elimination diet.  It definitely sounds (to me) like it's a food intolerance of some sort. My dd started falling down the growth charts, too, until we figured out her food triggers.  

[tibeca]

When you say your baby didn't poop, what do you mean? It is normal for breastfed babies to regularly go many days without pooping (some as many as 18!).

It sounds like your baby probably has a pear allergy, since giving pear juice results in a near immediate blow out.

Baby cereals often cause constipation and are not recommended for babies under 6 mos. Solids before 1 year of age are "just for fun," and the AAP recommends no solids before 6 mos. Breastmilk should be the main source of nutrition for the first year, as it is the most nutrient dense foods possible for a baby. I would eliminate solids all together and go back to very frequent nursing. Allow your baby's gut to heal and then try again once their weight is back on track.

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by southernmommie 

Thanks for the suggestions. We already nurse every half hour since birth. Tomorrow is grocery shopping day. I will make a list and double check the ingredients on everything. 

This is a red flag to me. Has your baby been checked for tongue-tie? If I were in that situation, I'd look into tongue-tie, and low milk supply (caused because baby isn't transferring milk, so body doesn't make as much), and work on increasing the amount of milk transferred to baby if that is an issue (doing daily weight check, then if needed taking herbs or domperidone, pumping, feeding expressed milk with a cup, etc. and getting the tongue-tie clipped.) It may not be the case, but frequent nursing, and no weight gain would really make me want to check it out.

Hope you find an answer soon!

[southernmommie]

Originally Posted by tibeca 

When you say your baby didn't poop, what do you mean? It is normal for breastfed babies to regularly go many days without pooping (some as many as 18!).

It sounds like your baby probably has a pear allergy, since giving pear juice results in a near immediate blow out.

Baby cereals often cause constipation and are not recommended for babies under 6 mos. Solids before 1 year of age are "just for fun," and the AAP recommends no solids before 6 mos. Breastmilk should be the main source of nutrition for the first year, as it is the most nutrient dense foods possible for a baby. I would eliminate solids all together and go back to very frequent nursing. Allow your baby's gut to heal and then try again once their weight is back on track.

The baby food was just a try once and see type thing and then not again for 3-4 weeks again. The pear juice was just to get him to  poop. I've only breastfed him during this time and didn't do food any more than the one time to see if he liked it. And only because he was so small and not gaining any weight. (And not pooping.) He would definitely go the 18 days if not longer before I would give him the juice just out of me freaking out that he hasn't pooped. 

Originally Posted by PatioGardener 

This is a red flag to me. Has your baby been checked for tongue-tie? If I were in that situation, I'd look into tongue-tie, and low milk supply (caused because baby isn't transferring milk, so body doesn't make as much), and work on increasing the amount of milk transferred to baby if that is an issue (doing daily weight check, then if needed taking herbs or domperidone, pumping, feeding expressed milk with a cup, etc. and getting the tongue-tie clipped.) It may not be the case, but frequent nursing, and no weight gain would really make me want to check it out.

Hope you find an answer soon!

He had his tongue tie clipped at 5 days old. However, a friend has recommended having it looked at again for a possible second clipping. Sadly, our second appointment with the ENT isn't until next week. The people there last week weren't really peds specific ENT and he was gone and only there one day a week. (Ugh.) I was just hoping that by coming here I might have something else to look into in case none of this is what is going on. So far, all I've heard from the dr's is to put him on formula. But he gags on bottles and pacifiers. I have a bottle that he likes that I happen to buy from some dollar store on the side of the highway between California and Texas. It has a really tiny nipple and is only a 2 ounce little bottle.

[PatioGardener]

Can you feed him your expressed milk in a little cup after you nurse? That may help to get more milk in him, and keep your supply up while you wait.

[homemademom]

I agree with patio gardener about tt. It could be that your dc isnt getting enough fat since with that frequent nursing he could be getting just foremilk, or whatever he can get easily from a letdown, without ever getting to the fatty hindmilk.

[PatioGardener]

OP, how are things now?